Collection highlights, acquisition news, events, exhibits, and behind-the-scenes looks at the work and services of Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) at Notre Dame.
In 1803, Robert Emmet led a failed rebellion to overthrow British rule in Ireland. In 1848, a group called Young Ireland staged a brief revolt that was hastily crushed. The Fenian Brotherhood invaded British North America in 1866, and the IRB organized a series of unsuccessful raids in Ireland the following year. On Easter Monday, 1916, a small group of Irish insurgents launched a rebellion in Dublin that was quashed in under a week. While these four attempts to create an independent Ireland may have failed, they each gave rise to a powerful romantic narrative that captivated the spirits of the Irish at home and abroad. Out of sacrifice and tragedy sprang patriotic verse, defiant journalism, cultural revival, and eventually, Irish freedom from British rule.
This exhibit features items from Rare Books and Special Collections and the University Archives that document the heroes, martyrs, and idealistic men and women who forged modern Ireland.
The exhibit is curated by Matthew Knight (Irish Studies Librarian and Curator).
Related Events
September 24-7, 2026 | The ACIS Midwest + South Regional Conference will be hosted by the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies and held on the University of Notre Dame campus. The theme of the meeting will be “Irish Studies On The Ground: Place, Presence and Community.” Please visit the conference website to view details.
October 2026 | Special Collections will host a lecture by curator Matt Knight, exact date and time TBD. Check back for more information.
Tours of the exhibit may be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting rarebook@nd.edu.
All exhibits are free and open to the public during business hours.This and other exhibits within the library are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
Rocío showing her exhibition work to family during Notre Dame’s 2026 commencement weekend.
A few weeks ago, I took what was likely the most delightful rideshare of my young adult life. To be sure, it wasn’t because of the quality of my steed (the black car was small and a bit, well, scuffed). Instead, it was because of a conversation with my driver, one which deepened my appreciation for a manuscript I recently studied at Notre Dame’s Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC).
When I set foot in the teeny black car, things initially followed the usual script: I gave Ashraf, my assigned chauffeur, my four-digit security code, said my quiet “hello!”, and scrolled on my phone mindlessly for a few minutes. However, that morning there was some magic in the dullness of Chicago traffic, and after a few minutes, I began bonding with the stranger in front of me.
In a span of 40 minutes, Ashraf and I chatted about anything and everything. He told me about his two sons, his path to Chicago, and his cultural roots; I told him about my parents, the story behind my name, and my undergraduate adventures. While it was a memorable and enjoyable conversation throughout, there was one moment that I kept coming back to days after I exited the car door: when Ashraf shared with me that “Humans are memories.”
That sole sentence fueled my brain’s thoughts the rest of the week. Specifically, it got me thinking differently about archives and historical documents. As I reflected, I came up with the following claim:
“If humans are memories, and objects are our memory-keepers, then within every material object there exists the essence of at least one person.”
Thus, I concluded that historical objects transcend the simple category of “valuable artifact”; indeed, they become material vessels of human life. Considering this, an object’s materiality must not only be examined through the context of history and science, but also through that of philosophy.
Manuscript cover with gilded flower motifs. Gold on leather.Holy Family with St. John the Baptist. Pigments on parchment. Folio 1, verso.Alonso de Resa Patent of Nobility, 12.6 x 9.1 in. University of Notre Dame Hesburgh Libraries, Rare Books and Special Collections, MSH/LAT 0117.
This past year, I collaborated with RBSC to craft a spotlight exhibit on a carta ejecutoria de hidalguía, a beautiful 16th-century Spanish illuminated manuscript which legally certified an individual’s noble status. The investigation used scientific and historical research to understand how the manuscript materially communicated the noble identity of its owner, don Alonso de Resa. Throughout my investigation, I encountered many interesting findings, the most exciting of which was the possible presence of cochineal red, an extremely valuable pigment made from crushed insects in Latin America.
Rocío standing next to the Magellan 400 FESEM Microscope (left), where tiny manuscript pigment samples were analyzed (some results shown on right). Photo taken by Dr. Khachatur Manukyan.
After my conversation with Ashraf, however, I realized there is much more to the carta ejecutoria’s pigment that I have yet to consider, primarily how it implies the human agency behind the manuscript—namely the labor of artists, manufacturers, and merchants. This is not to say that any of my previous research is inconsequential: it is still true that the likely presence of the cochineal physically demonstrates don Alonso’s wealth and noble status. It is also true that the use of the pigment in this manuscript shows how the Spanish articulated the concept of nobility via a product of global trade.
Harvest and preparation of cochineal.
Sahagún, Bernardino de, et al. Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España (Códice florentino). 1577. Ms. Mediceo Palatino 218–20, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. Códice Florentino Digital / Digital Florentine Codex, edited by Kim N. Richter et al., bk. 11, fol. 216v, Getty Research Institute, 2023.
That said, the artist’s potential use of cochineal begs us to consider the role of those who made it, as well as its path towards its place in the manuscript. Before that pigment was part of don Alonso’s carta, it was crushed by laborers in Latin America, packaged and sent via boat on an overseas journey to Spain, where it was sold and then used by our artist. As such, the pigments I researched were not only a part of my undergraduate life at Notre Dame, but also that of many other people of the past, all of whom contributed to the making and the history of this manuscript. With renewed understanding, those reds, blues, and greens from don Alonso’s carta passed from being meager pigments to material remnants of humanity, tiny little specks of incalculable value. Amazing how color can carry so much memory and significance, right?
With this in mind, next time you find yourself in RBSC, I encourage you to take a moment. As you touch a book’s old bindings and trace its ink with your eyes, think of the hands and stories that have helped shape it and which have brought it to you in that moment. Truly give yourself time to pause and imagine at least one person who might have touched, created, or used the object before you. With this act, you deepen your connection with history by intentionally engaging with the remnants of our past. In this sense, each visit to RBSC is not unlike a memorable rideshare—a brief encounter that leaves a lasting impression, reframing our understanding of how human memory transcends mere space and time.
“The Gay Olympic Games: Community Through Sport,” tells the early history of the Gay Games with material from the Gay Games Collection (MSSP 10070) a manuscript collection housed in RBSC. As the exhibit explains, organizers originally adopted the name “Gay Olympic Games.” But, weeks before the opening ceremonies, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) filed a lawsuit and received an injunction prohibiting use of the word “Olympic” in association with the event. Organizers hastily rebranded as the “Gay Games,” and the competitions continued as scheduled in the late summer of 1982 in San Francisco.
In addition to materials on display in the exhibit, the Gay Games Collection contains other items documenting this story and recording the dogged persistence of the LGBTQ community and allies in establishing and hosting the Gay Games. A recently acquired copy of the August 1982 Gay OlympicsNewsletter, for example, visually demonstrates how organizers of the event responded to the USOC lawsuit. The newsletter editors explained in bold print: “We are not barred, however, from blocking out the world ‘OLYMPIC’ and continuing our efforts. THE GAMES WILL GO ON!!”
Gay Olympics Newsletter (MSSP10070-01-02)
The Games did, indeed, go on, and the Gay Games Collection in RBSC contains material documenting the first four Gay Games from 1982 through 1994. Gay Games II was also held in San Francisco, and, from the beginning, the Gay Games included and emphasized cultural and artistic activities that celebrated the accomplishments of LGBTQ people. A program for the Procession of the Arts, for example, detailed the “cultural events” associated with Gay Games II.
Front covers of the Procession of the Arts program (MSSP10070-02-03) and the Official Program of Gay Games II (MSSP10070-02-01) from 1986.
Throughout its existence, the Gay Games have been a welcoming, inclusive, and safe space for all athletes, spectators, fans, and allies. This flier from Gay Games III held in Vancouver in 1990 described the “Special Philosophy” of the event:
The Games are open to everyone who supports their philosophy of inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness. “Participation and doing one’s personal best are more important than winning,” said founder [Dr. Tom] Waddell. “Our friendly competitions have worked well to remove age, sex, and racial stereotypes.”
Gay Games III flier (MSSP10070-03-04)
Since their founding, the Gay Games have been a popular participatory and spectator event for LGBTQ people and allies, and promoters of the games have created many different types of items to allow fans to demonstrate their support. For Gay Games I, the Gertrude Stein Philatelic Society produced a collectible cachet—or decorative commemorative envelope—celebrating “The First Gay Olympic Games.” Collectible pins have also proven popular. The colorful pins below advertised San Francisco’s “Gay Games II – Triumph in ‘86” and “Gay Games IV – Unity ‘94” held in New York City in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.
Gay Games I cachet (MSSP10070-01-10)Gay Games II pin (MSSP10070-02-07) and Gay Games IV pin (MSSP10070-04-06)
The exhibit Cultivating Community will be on display and open to the public during regular RBSC hours through July 17th. Now a major quadrennial international sporting event, Gay Games XII will run in Valencia from June 27th through July 4th.
The Gay Games Collection is available and open to researchers, and RBSC welcomes donations of new material about the history of the Gay Games.
Best wishes to the 2026 graduates of the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Holy Cross College, from all of us in Rare Books and Special Collections.
We would particularly like to congratulate the following students who worked for Special Collections during their time on campus:
Rocío Colón Cotto (ND ’26), Bachelor of Arts in Art History, Bachelor of Arts in Chinese
Ashley Estelle (ND ’26), Bachelor of Arts in History
José Hurtado (ND ’26), Bachelor of Architecture
Both images: MSE/EM 110-1B, Diploma, University of Padua, 1690
RBSC will be closed Monday, May 25, for Memorial Day.
This exhibition highlights stories of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning, from six distinct collections in Rare Books and Special Collections. Each section, presented by a different subject curator, focuses on an example of how people over time and in different places, construct community and cultivate hope.
This exhibition highlights examples of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning. Showcasing narratives spanning centuries and continents, each story demonstrates that the power of constructing community and cultivating hope transcends time and place.
The exhibition features six distinct collections housed in the Rare Books & Special Collections, and is curated by Hesburgh Libraries faculty members. Click below to learn more about each of the individual exhibits within the exhibition:
Curated by Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Ph.D. (Curator, Latin American and Iberian Studies)
Tours of the exhibit may be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting rarebook@nd.edu.All exhibits are free and open to the public during business hours.This and other exhibits within the library are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
This exhibition highlights stories of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning, from six distinct collections in Rare Books and Special Collections. Each section, presented by a different subject curator, focuses on an example of how people over time and in different places, construct community and cultivate hope.
A Community of Solidarity Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Russian and East European Studies)
Transnational Communities of Resistance during El Salvador’s Civil War Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Ph.D. (Curator, Latin American and Iberian Studies)
This and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
This St. Patrick’s Day and in the March–April spotlight exhibit, Rare Books and Special Collections celebrates the youth of Ireland, who were seen in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the true soul of the Irish Nation. After all, if Irish independence were to be achieved, nationalists would first have to win the hearts and minds of the next generation.
In 1842, a group known as Young Ireland founded a newspaper called The Nation to advocate for a politically independent Ireland. The Nation envisioned an Irish identity undivided by race or religion; united by Irish language and culture; and forged from a romanticized version of Irish history. To achieve these ends, Young Ireland sought a legion more formidable than a thousand men clad in steel: The young intellect of the country.1
One of our prized collections is a series of draft songs composed for The Nation newspaper by one of the founders of Young Ireland, Thomas Davis (Thomas Davis Collection, MSE/IR 1001). Although Davis tragically died of scarlet fever at age thirty, many of his compositions (“A Nation Once Again,” “The West’s Asleep,” and “Lament for Owen Roe O’Neill”), intended to inspire the Irish youth of his time, are still sung today.
Although the British banned the speaking of Irish and the teaching of Ireland’s history from the national school system, associations inspired by the Young Ireland Movement began to encourage children to study the Irish language, play Gaelic sports, and perform Irish drama and music. This alternative education included journals such as Young Ireland (1875-1891) and groups like the Irish Fireside Club (founded 1887), which helped foster a new national identity among the nation’s youth.
These activities served as training grounds for future nationalists and paved the way for the formation of Connradh na Gaedhilge (The Gaelic League) in 1893. This organization continued to solicit the support of Irish youth, and published numerous books, pamphlets, and broadsides intended to ensure children remained at the forefront of the revival of Irish language and culture.
First published by Connradh na Gaedhilge in 1902, An tÁilleán was written by Tadhg Ó Donnchadha (‘Torna’) with illustrations of the ideal country life by Seoirse Ua Fágáin.
‘Torna’ dedicated the book to the youth of Ireland, saying, “Cuimhnighidh air gur i nÉirinn do rugadh sibh, gur ceart dúinn ár ndícheall do dhéanamh ar son Éireann; maireamhaint agus bás d’fhágháil i nÉirinn; agus ó’s í an Gaedhilg ár dTeanga féin, í labhairt í comhnuidhe.” [Remember that you were born in Ireland, and we must do our best for Ireland; to live and die in Ireland; and since Irish is our own language, speak it always.]
Fuínn na Smól (Songs of the Thrushes) is a collection of Irish tunes drawn from manuscripts, oral tradition, and shorter printed works. An tAthair Pádruig Breathnach (1848–1930), a Catholic priest and member of the Gaelic League, collected Irish songs from his parishioners in his youth. He later published them in a series of works like this one, with each tune printed in the Gaelic typeface and set to a melody in tonic solfa.
Although dedicated to children learning Irish in school, these songbooks had much to offer adults committed to the de-anglicization program of the Gaelic League. Sales ran into the tens of thousands, and they had a lasting influence on the Irish oral tradition.2
When Gaelic revivalism became more political, groups like Na Fianna Éireann (Boy Scouts of Ireland), founded in 1909, emerged to support a future military insurrection. First published in 1914, the Fianna Handbook served as the official guide and training manual for Na Fianna Éireann. The Fianna Handbook was the Irish nationalist alternative to the Baden-Powell Boy Scout handbook, with the Fianna portrayed holding rifles, in contrast to the Baden-Powell Scouts, who carried walking sticks.
The guide featured training in signaling, first aid, camping, and military drill, but also contained chapters devoted to a cultural nationalist education. Patrick Pearse contributed a chapter on the legendary Fianna; Countess Markievicz, the group’s founder and ‘Chief,’ wrote an inspiring foreword and designed the cover; Roger Casement penned an essay on chivalry; and Douglas Hyde submitted a chapter in the Irish language.
Current and former Fianna participated in the 1916 Easter Rising, and the organization later worked alongside the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the Irish War of Independence (1919-21).
Eighty years after Young Ireland founded The Nation newspaper, the Irish Free State was declared, and Irish Independence followed soon after. The Gaelic revival survived largely because it recognized that nobody was too young to serve their country, and the new Irish state found many former “Firesiders” and Fianna members serving in leadership roles. These once pint-sized radicals ensured that their dream of a free, Gaelic Ireland would pass to the next generation of Irish children.
Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:
Monday, March 5 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: M.A. Student Presentations (University of Notre Dame) — This semester’s speakers are: Giorgia Buscema and Madeline Grossman.
This exhibition highlights stories of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning, from six distinct collections in Rare Books and Special Collections. Each section, presented by a different subject curator, focuses on an example of how people over time and in different places, construct community and cultivate hope.
Women Religious in Male Spaces David T. Gura, Ph.D. (Curator, Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts)
Ireland’s Idealized Community Matthew Knight, Ph.D. (Curator, Irish Studies)
A Community of Solidarity Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Russian and East European Studies)
Transnational Communities of Resistance during El Salvador’s Civil War Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Ph.D. (Curator, Latin American and Iberian Studies)
This and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
Join Professor Guyda Armstrong (University of Manchester) and Dr Giles Bergel (University of Oxford) for an interactive workshop showcasing new digital methods for studying early modern printing. This session will introduce the research questions and first findings of Envisioning Dante c. 1472-1630: Seeing and Reading the Early Printed Page, funded by the UK government (c. £1 million; 2022-25). Participants will be given practical, hands-on demonstrations of the techniques and new digital tools developed by the project for analyzing and comparing early printed books.
This exhibition highlights stories of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning, from six distinct collections in Rare Books and Special Collections. Each section, presented by a different subject curator, focuses on an example of how people over time and in different places, construct community and cultivate hope.
Curated by Rachel Bohlmann, Ph.D. (Curator, American History and American Studies), Gregory Bond, Ph.D. (Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection), David T. Gura, Ph.D. (Curator, Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts), Matthew Knight, Ph.D. (Irish Studies Librarian and Curator), Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections), and Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Ph.D. (Librarian and Curator for Latin American and Iberian Studies).
This and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
